REFLECTION ON FORGIVENESS BY JEAN SMITH” INSPIRED BY THE SONG WRITTEN AND SUNG BY TOBY MAC

 

 When we make a mistake for all to see, do you ever feel that people are pointing at you and telling you what you should or shouldn't do?  It something that happened to me during a time of grief and pain. “Yes, we all make a mistake sometimes and we’ve all stepped across that line, and nothing is sweeter than the day we find forgiveness.” (Toby Mac)  

It feels like it’s hanging over us like clouds in the sky when darkness seeps into our eyes and it’s written on our face, but we don’t make a sound because it hurts deep down inside. Someone’s always putting us down and forgetting the golden rule. 

It’s not about me, it’s not about you.  It’s about forgiveness.   We all stumble and fall down.  “We burn bridges in the heat of it all” (Toby Mac) We all bear some pain sometimes and we suffer when we don’t feel loved.  “We struggle when we make mistakes but there is sweetness on the day, we are offering forgiveness. We all need forgiveness.” (Toby Mac)

When you are sad and your feeling blue, remember what Jesus did for you. He told us to love one another as I have loved you and he offered up the sacrifice of His life for all and said, “Forgive them for they know not they do” It’s called forgiveness.

My grandmother always said your heart can be broken and emotional wounds can remain open.  Band-Aids don’t always close the wounds when we hurt inside so bad that we can’t remember the words Christ said, but those expecting forgiveness should be quicker to give it too, just like Jesus.

God created all mankind.  God gave all of us Free Will but the greatest gift He gave was Jesus.  No matter what, God loves us all and He knows everyone of our flaws, but He gave the greatest gift of all in Jesus, who suffered for our sins so we can have forgiveness. 

“When stones fly and hit us and we don’t know what to do because we feel it’s all on you, remember what Jesus’ last words were, He offered forgiveness” (Toby Mac)

When we stumble again, we can recall there is always a time for forgiveness, you know how much we all need that.

No matter how lost we are, Christ is always near, not far. He will never abandon us and no matter the wrong that we do, we are never too far away from forgiveness.

Those Little Things......

As I reflect on the upcoming Lenten Season during this “Year of Mercy”   I ponder this question,  “Can Lent be a yearly  second chance?”  Each year Lent gives us 6 weeks to reflect on our lives to see if we are in line with the teaching of the Catholic Church and what God desires of us.  Some of us find that we fall short of the glory of God and when we wander off the path;  then Lent becomes for us a second chance. Thus,  we are given an annual chance to re-do and take one step at a time to walk a path into the arms of our merciful and loving Father.

Each year during Lent,  Psalm 51 is frequently used  during the Liturgy of the Mass.  It has become one of my favorite Psalms to reflect upon.  Although I have heard this Psalm many times in the past, recently it became an epiphany for me.  I have come to a greater understanding of how great David’s anguish was when he wrote this Psalm.

I felt a pang of guilt as I whispered  the words out loud, ““Against You, You only, have I sinned and done evil in your sight.  Have Mercy on me, God.  In your compassion blot out my offense”                I asked myself , “Do I really consider whether my sins, big or small, truly offend God?  Wasn’t my attention more on myself or on those I might have offended, than it was on the Lord? “

Many times I am filled with inequities and find myself in sin.  I think it happens to all of us at some point on our spiritual journey.  As a mother and wife, there seems to be countless times that I get impatient with my four sons  and husband.  Sometimes over petty things, “Like who left the toilet seat up during the middle of the night?”  It seems to irk me and then I feel mad.  Mad at them but even more angry at myself for getting upset over such a little thing.  

Then I have to ask myself, “When are you going to stop attaching such importance to such little things?  Yes, I find that these little things come up over and over again.  Just a little white lie.  Maybe an exaggeration of truth.  Feeling sorry for myself.  Complaining about things.  Perhaps that’s why we haven’t sinned against God. when it comes to “those little things” We just tend to sweep them under the carpet of our conscience.

Eventually those little things add up to a lot-- “what kind of little things?’  you might ask.

Perhaps one or more of the following

*A sarcastic remark made about a coworker or your boss at work

*An embellishment of the truth

   *A neglect of daily prayer

*A twinge of jealousy left to ferment

*Not speaking out about an injustice

*Being cynical

*Walking away from the truth

*Harboring anger at a loved one

*Giving someone a snooty glance

*Being judgemental

*Gossiping

*Getting caught up in the ways of the world

I began to ponder this.  Just think about it, these are just little things, right?  Some of us may think that they are not big transgressions.  No major felonies or sacrileges involved.  It just seems like at times everything slips and tumbles around us.  In our anger we brush it aside.  We tend to think that it is hardly the time to ask for forgiveness.  Hey, we may even think our anger is justified at times.  Especially when the person driving in the next lane cuts us off.

Somehow I got caught up in the notion that God is here to handle just the “Big Stuff” Like the major temptations we face in life.  I finally realized that it is up to me and my self control to deal with all that tempts me no matter how great or small.  I have a feeling many people handle sin in the same way.  The problem may be that our attitude towards sin has become more self-centered than God-centered.  We get caught up in ourselves instead of getting caught up in God.

Sometimes, I think about the times I became more concerned over seeking forgiveness for my sins and being repentant rather than facing the fact that my sins grieves the heart of our Lord.  

My epiphany came when I  silently  read Psalm 51 and began to pray and a still small voice filled me with these words, “Your sins pierce me”  

Before this happened,  I use to think that the “small” sins of disobedience or neglect may not really offend God, that maybe he thinks it’s o.k. to sweep the little things under the carpet.  Now, I know that this is not so.  Perhaps the problem is that we do not take sin seriously enough in today’s society. Yes, society permeates our hearts with the notion that there are some things that are unacceptable while there are other things that are tolerated.  Such in the case of abortion.  Abortion is legal while committing murder is a crime.  What a dichotomy of life.  

When you come right down to it, we never see the sin in its true perspective until we see all of it lined up against our Holy God.  I finally realized that ALL OUR SINS drove the nails into Jesus’ hands and feet.  ALL OR OUR SINS caused him to suffer for our transgressions. 

As it says in Isaiah 53:5

He was pierced for our transgressions.                                                       He was crushed by our inequities.

                 The punishment that brought peace was upon him.                                                     And by His wounds we are healed.

During this Lenten season we need to ask ourselves, what “little sins” frequently go unconfessed and unrepented in our lives?  I know that I only have to look at Jesus crucified on the cross to know that my sins pierce Him.  My sin is always before Him.  Yes, Jesus is our Lord and Savior.  He died for our sins and He also gives us His endless mercy and love.  With His sincerity of heart He teaches us wisdom.  He creates in us a clean heart and renews a life spirit within us. He simply asks that we seek Him out and go out and sin no more.

Pray for the Fallen Fireman from Prescott, Arizona known as "The Hot Shots" who died fighting a massive forest fire.

Please take a moment and pray for these fine and courageous young men.  Who gave their lives to save others in need.  We give thanks for all firemen who lay down their life every day.   We tend to take for granted the impact of the importance of those who are first responders.  

May God be with the fallen firefirghters's families. As these brave men attempted to fight one of the greatest bushfires in Arizona. All 19 firefighters killed belonged to the Granite Mountain Hotshots crew headquartered in Prescott, Arizona about 80 miles from Phoenix. The Yarnell Hill Fire is the deadliest fire in Arizona history and largest firefighter loss since 9/11. The firefighters were caught when the fire suddenly changed direction and trapped them as they tried to deploy their emergency fire shelters

.http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/07/02/197941198/videos-solemn-salutes-to-fallen-firefighters-in-arizona

A Fireman's Prayer

When I'm called to duty God, wherever flames may rage, give me strength to save a life whatever be its age

Help me to embrace a little child, before it is too late or save an older person from the horror of that fate

Enable me to be alert, to hear the weakest shout and quickly and efficiently to put the fire out

I want to fill my calling and to give the best in me to guard my neighbor and protect his property

And if according to your will I have to lose my life bless with your protecting hand my children and my wife.

All About Me By Jean Smith

     As I was growing up in the Greater Cleveland area I was always delighted by the vast beauty of Lake Erie and I was fascinated by the beauty of God’s creation of nature.  My grandmother had a rustic home with an immense amount of land with a beautiful garden.  She led a simple life and had no running water in her home as she used a well and had an outhouse.  When I visited her I was comfortable with the simple life she lived. She was a solid Christian woman with a deep faith in God.  However, the one thing that I was afraid of was going in the outhouse.  Many times the outhouse would have bugs in it.  Spiders and bees permeate the outhouse and within her garden was a plethora of praying mantis, spiders and flying grasshoppers which I also feared. 

     I recall a time when a large spider was in the outhouse and I became upset and here comes Grandma Sweet to silence my fear.  As she picks up the spider and allowed it crawl up her arm, she told me that God is our creator and that he made everything.  Even the bugs, and that bugs had a role to play in the balance of nature.  Spiders ate aphids that were on her rosebushes.  Praying mantis would devour larva of green worms on her tomato plants and bees would pollinate her flower garden and all of these things in nature where in rhythm with God’s creation of our world.

     Grandma loved to read the bible.  I recall her telling me over and over again the story of creation that was in Genesis.  I was amazed with her ability to quote the bible and to hear her read out loud from her King James Bible was fascinating.  As she grew older she began to lose her eye sight and moved in with my family and I began to read to her from her precious bible on a daily basis and within my heart more seeds of faith were being planted. 

     As I reflect on these memories I realized that she was planting seeds of faith in my heart just like she planted the seeds in her garden every year.  Her influence in my life led me to have a love of gardening and of the Bible. I now think of God as being our Master Gardener and I am his assistant and his disciple as I share my faith and love of Jesus with all I meet.  It has been a long journey influenced first by my Grandmother and other Christians in my life who also shared their deep faith with me, mentoring and guiding me through the Holy Spirit. 

    My love of the Bible led me to Guadalupe Bible College and most recently I have become a certified teacher of the scripture.  God called me to a ministry of teaching not only the Bible but to also live the word of God in my daily life.  What does God call you to be in his presence?   With prayerful discernment I found that I was blessed with the ability to instill God’s word into the hearts of all people that I meet. I became a prayer warrior and began intercessory prayer with other Christians from all over the world.  God indeed has blessed me with a gift that I feel compelled to share with others.  Often people come to me for advice and I have developed the gift of discernment and of knowledge and I inspire to share this gift with others while planting seeds of faith in their lives just like my Grandmother did for me.

     When I think about my life I can envision my Grandma Sweet in her favorite lavender dress and her white apron that matched her pure white hair showing me God’s gift of nature and how people like you and I fear bugs and think of them as pests to be avoided.  Perhaps you can envision these insects too,  as being a metaphor for the trials and tribulations in our lives that we are faced with. 

     Have you ever had a time when you were met with a trial and wanted to avoid it, to run away from it and forget to let go and let God?  We have all been faced with that at some point in our lives.  It is during the time of trials and tribulations that God remains in our presence at all times.  He will never forsake you for with God all things are possible.  Can you picture in your mind that as you go through a trial that you become like Christ and carry a cross just like he did?  Do you allow yourself to give it completely to God so that He can refine you like pure silver? 

     As your sister in Christ I hope to plant some seeds for you and to help you become like refined silver despite the hardships that you encounter.  I like you, am a child of God who has faced adversity at times and have become filled with fear.  Remember the fear of spiders I had?  That fear was quelled and within me a seed of faith and hope was planted.  May I plant some seeds for you?